Hesitate
by PrincipalCellist
Summary: /If you're hesitant, it means you aren't sure - which means you may not really want it./ Puzzleshipping. One shot.


This was something I wrote upon a request. I can't believe I forgot to post it onto my FF account. :3

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
>Please enjoy.<p>

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><p>Yugi froze when he heard those words come from the other's lips. What did that even mean? If Yami was hesitant, that meant he wasn't sure, which meant he didn't really want it. Yugi bit his lip, and then carefully pulled Yami's hands from his face. If Yami didn't return his feelings, that was okay. But having him touch Yugi was too much. It would cause his heart to shatter completely. If there was anything Yugi knew for sure about, it was that Yami was confident of <em>everything<em> he did. So if Yami was hesitating, that meant he didn't want it - want this. Want Yugi.

Yugi folded his arms over his chest protectively. He knew what he was getting himself into when he asked to speak to Yami privately. What he didn't know was just how much the rejection could hurt. He didn't know it would make his heart feel like lead and drop into his stomach. He bit his lip and stared at the wall, refusing to cry. He was tired of always being the one to cry.

He was confused as well. Hadn't Yami smiled when Yugi confessed his attraction to him? Hadn't Yami then embraced him in a way that made Yugi think he would never let go? But then, when Yugi went to lift his head and kiss him, Yami had seemed a little hesitant. Unwilling, even. He only tightened his hold on Yugi. So then everything was just to get Yugi ready for a rejection? But that didn't sound right. Yami had looked truly happy when Yugi confessed. Like he couldn't believe this was reality. Was it something Yugi did? But what had he done in a few short seconds to make Yami act as such?

Yugi unfolded his arms so he could rub his forehead. "I don't understand." He finally said, annoyed by that fact. He thought he was good at telling other people's feelings - after all, when you are alone most of your life there isn't much to do but study how others' interact - but it seemed he was wrong. He actually knew close to nothing. That was a painful lesson.

"Yugi, don't even think for a minute that I mean that I don't like you." Yami said, seeming to read Yugi's mind even though their link was long gone. "Because I do. A lot. Maybe too much. It's just that…" He fell silent, and Yugi peeked up at him. For once Yami didn't look all confident and composed like he usually did. Yugi was seeing beyond the mask of the normal Yami and seeing his true self. He'd seen it before, but it usually came in those rare smiles. Now Yami instead looked worried, completely unsure of anything. It made him look older. Yami frowned and tried again, obviously trying to find the right words.

"It's just that I've liked you for a long time now, and I never dreamed - never dared to hope - that you would feel the same toward me. I'm afraid that, now that I have you, I will lose you. That I'll say or do the wrong thing." He paused. "I don't think I could go through that kind of pain again. The pain from the knowledge of you being gone." He shuddered, and Yugi knew he was speaking of the whole orichalcos incident. But that had been so long ago. Though Yugi had finally forgiven him, it still haunted Yami.

"Plus," Yami continued quickly, skipping over that whole ordeal, "I don't have a lot of experience with this whole…_dating _thing_. _When I was Pharaoh, I didn't have the time for such things - and before that I was simply a child. To young to even know about it."

Yugi blushed a little at Yami's honesty. He could understand, though.  
>"That's why you're hesitant?" He asked softly.<p>

Yami nodded a bit and reached over, taking Yugi's hand. "I am very protective of myself," Yami admitted. "I act like I know what to do a lot of the time, but inside I feel like I'm probably the most insecure person alive. You should know that." He added, and Yugi did. There was very little Yugi didn't know about Yami - his _partner_. "I don't want to go the wrong way - taking the wrong turn - and lose you. I would do anything to avoid that."

"Then stop hesitating." Yugi said softly, and he shifted his hand so their fingers entwined. "When you do that, it makes _me_ feel insecure. So stop worrying. I'm right here by your side, and I don't plan on going anywhere else." He squeezed Yami's hand, and when the pressure was returned, Yugi thought his heart would beat right out of his chest. He smiled a huge grin, the kind that wouldn't go away no matter how hard you tried to get rid of it.

"I'll hold you to that." Yami answered. He lifted his hand to Yugi's face, brushing back some of the golden bangs that lay there. Yugi closed his eyes for a minute, committing this whole conversation to memory. As he always did when Yami opened up and let him see underneath that mask of his.

"Anyway," Yugi said, blinking at Yami. "If anyone should be worried, it's me. I don't think I really deserve you. Or deserve to be so lucky and happy."

"You deserve _everything_," Yami said, his ruby irises staring straight into Yugi's amethyst ones. Yugi felt heat go to his face, and he knew he was blushing darker than ever. He looked away from Yami, embarrassed and happy at the same time. He smiled a little, secretive smile to himself.

"So…you're saying I should get everything I want?"

"Of course."

Yugi looked back up to the other, and kept his gaze.  
>"I want you to kiss me. Right now."<p>

Yami's face went from slight surprise, then to amusement.  
>"Who am I to deny you that?" He said, leaning over.<p>

While the rest of the world went on - unaware as they ate their dinner, read the paper, or lounged in their living room - Yami and Yugi's mouths came together for the first time. Maybe somewhere there was a ripple, a tiny jump, some kind of slight shift in the universe that was barely notice able to some, but they felt it.

To them, it was like the string that had been tied around them - the bond that had had kept them together through it all - seemed to solidify. Suddenly, that want they had to be close together changed into something more. It shifted into a burning need. So hot that it was almost like fire that lashed and burned them both, leaving in it's wake new feelings and discoveries and love. Always love.

As they kissed, they both knew that the world was still moving. Everything was still the same - still going on, as it always had, all around them. The world hadn't changed.

But they had.

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><p>Please review~<p> 


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